In Love And War
by Witch of the West
Summary: Slytherins never date out of their house. It's against their 'policy'. But what happens when a Slytherinn falls for a Ravenclaw? And what if that Ravenclaw wants to do something Slytherin?
1. Slytherin Stomach and Back

Annie Whistler looked out across the Great Hall from her seat at the Ravenclaw table. First she scanned over the Gryffindor table behind her. Nothing caught her interest so she skimmed her eyes over the Hufflepuff table right in front of her. Nothing again. She set her sights farther down the hall. The Slytherin table. Her eyes looked at every single person at the table but her eyes never locked with anyone else's. Until Christian Bletchley, the Slytherin Keeper. Her eyes met his and soon they were at war. Neither would look away. Call it pride, call it competition; call it what you will. Still neither wavered their gaze. They continued to keep their staring contest going even as Katie Bell sat down next to Annie. Katie was curious to see whom her friend could be staring at, so she followed her gaze to the Slytherin table. Katie then saw Bletchley's beautiful green eyes staring right back into Annie's gorgeous blue ones. Katie smirked to herself then prodded Annie on the arm. Annie jumped and looked at Katie, turning slightly pink. 

"Who are you looking at?" Katie asked slyly. Annie gave her a look and scoffed.

"As if you didn't see? You've been sitting here how long now?" Annie asked, her eyebrows raised at her Gryffindor friend. 

"I saw alright. I was just wondering if _you_ knew who you were staring at," Katie explained.

"I know perfectly well who I was staring at."

"Well then I say we go off to Potions now and talk about this," Katie said mischievously. 

"Why?" Annie asked, slightly suspicious of her friend's behavior.

"You aren't the only one who stares at Slytherins," Katie explained. Annie raised her eyebrows again at her friend and followed her out of the hall, but not without one last look toward the Slytherin table. 

On the other side of the hall, a certain Slytherin watched as the two girls vacated the hall. His friend looked at him and followed his gaze to a Ravenclaw and a Gryffindor. His friend, being ever so kind, poked him on the shoulder, causing his gaze to waver and a scowl to be imprinted upon his face. 

"What?" Christian asked Adrian Pucey, a Slytherin Chaser. His friend just stared at him. "Alright, now you're creeping me out. What's going on?"

"I should ask you the same question. Since when did Annie Whistler and Katie Bell become so interesting?" Adrian asked, watching as Christian averted his wandering eyes back to the door through which the two previous subjects had left. 

"Annie's always been interesting. It's just her brother and her friends that tone down the… interesting-ness," Christian finished horribly. 

"Interesting-ness? Did she take your brain with her when she left?"

"So what if she did?"

"You admitted that? _You _admitted _that? _You _admitted _that?" 

"Don't act all surprised and be quiet, people are starting to stare."

"You're caring about whether people stare or not? When before you could have stared at that girl for Merlin knows how long if she didn't leave?"

"Shut up! Let's go to Potions," Christian said, packing up. Adrian followed him with a sigh and a mutter that sounded distinctly like 'so you can stare some more?'. Christian glared at his friend and led the way to the dungeons. 

"You're never going to get her," Adrian pointed out as they exited the Great Hall. Christian stopped and glared at him.

"Why not?" he asked hotly. Adrian rolled his eyes at him the only way a Slytherin knew how. 

"One: she's a Ravenclaw. Two: her brother, Amos, remember him? He'll kill you. Three: her friends Rob and Roger; they'll kill you too."

"You think I don't know that?"

"You better, because I don't want a dead friend. It doesn't appeal and doesn't attract a lot of girls," Adrian said. By this time they had started walking again and were making their way into the dungeons. As they did they could hear laughing near the Potions room. They crept closer, hidden by stone walls and it was kind of dark in there. They could see Annie and Katie sitting on the floor with their backs against the wall. 

"Seriously all of the players on their team are good-looking," Katie said. Annie rolled her eyes and laughed. "Just because you only think that Bletchley is doesn't mean you have to doubt the rest of the team."

"I'm not doubting the rest of the team. I just think that he's the best looking one. That's all," Annie explained.

"Is that why you stare at him from across the hall during lunch?" Katie asked. Annie mock-glared at her friend. Her glare slowly turned into an embarrassed grin. 

"I hate you right now for mocking me," Annie said. 

"All I'm saying is that if you want to piss off your brother and friends, go for him," Katie said with a shrug. 

"Are you sure you're supposed to be in Gryffindor and not the house we are talking about?" Annie asked.

"You flatter me Annie," Katie responded. "You know who's really smashing? Adrian Pucey."

"Bletchley's best friend? Okay, I'll give you that one. What about Montague?" Annie asked.

"He's alright."

"Have you seen his stomach?" Annie asked. Katie looked at her with wide eyes. 

"When did you see his stomach?" Katie asked incredulously. 

"I was leaving practice early and stepped into the boys' locker room to get something from Amos' locker and Montague… stepped out of the shower with nothing… but a towel… around his waist. Needless to say both of us got really red and swore never to speak of it to each other again. By the way, have you seen Warrington's back?" Katie shook her head, her mouth still open from Annie's story. "He's got a nice back. You can see all of the muscles."

"When did you check out Warrington's back?" Katie asked; feeling severely left out of seeing all of this.

"This story's easier. So Troy was working on this potion for something after class. I had a detention from Snape because of something I said during class. Anyway I was in the same dungeon as Troy. I was cleaning out cauldrons as he was working. Well something happened and his shirt caught on fire. So he ripped it off and got the fire out. His back was to me and I heard all the commotion so I turned around and looked."

"You got detention?" Katie asked. 

"Yes," Annie said. "I'm not perfect."

"Yeah, she is," Christian muttered. Adrian smirked from behind him. Katie propped her head up more to look around the dungeon, then she turned to Annie.

"Did you hear something?" she asked. Annie looked around. 

"Yeah. I did," she said. "Oh well. We should probably stop talking anyway. It's almost time for class." 

Annie stood and then helped up Katie. They straightened their skirts and picked up their books. They walked into the classroom and sat at their places. Katie took her seat near the back and next to Alicia Spinnet, who had yet to arrive. Annie moved up the same column of desks to near the front of the room. She sat in her seat, the second row from the front and next to Kate Monroe, her roommate and Keeper of the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. Adrian and Christian walked in shortly after the girls and took their seats, next to each other, one row up from Katie and one column over. Annie looked back to the door as other students arrived. She greeted her twin brother Amos and Roger Davies as they sat in front of her. She waved to Rob Connolly and James Dahl as they sat in the column of desks next to Katie and Alicia (who also had shown up). Annie talked with Roger and Amos as Kate and David Bradley walked into the room. Nearly the entire Ravenclaw Quidditch team was in the room, except of course for Cho Chang, who was a sixth year and wouldn't be in a class with all seventh years. 

Annie looked over her shoulder and made eye contact with Katie as Troy Warrington and Brian Montague entered the room and sat next to each other, two desks up from Rob and James. She had always felt it a little unnerving that the four Ravenclaws in the front were almost surrounded by Slytherins, but after about a week into the class the feeling went away. The feeling was replaced by wanting to be the two Ravenclaws sitting next to Adrian and Christian. Annie's thoughts were stolen from her as the rest of the students entered the classroom, followed by the teacher. 

"Today class," Professor Snape began. "We will be dealing with the Wolfsbane Potion. It is a very complicated potion and requires complete concentration. Everything is detail in this potion. One wrong move or ingredient and it will become fatal. I trust that you will be able to handle this, as you are seventh years in a NEWT Potions class. But then again, I always get surprises. The instructions are on the board; follow them precisely. Begin."

Annie looked at the board. She scanned over the ingredients and the procedure. After she took a couple of minutes to think about them. In those couple of minutes an idea struck her and she grabbed a spare bit of parchment. She made some calculations and a grin spread across her face.

Christian watched as Annie raised her hand and called Professor Snape over. He went over and looked down at her. She explained a few things to him and showed him a bit of parchment, presumably with calculations of some sort on it. Snape took the paper and looked at it closely. He seemed to be pondering what was written on the paper with what his student had told him. He gave the paper back to Annie and told her to work on it. He also told her it could be a breakthrough. _A breakthrough? What kind of breakthrough?_ _What did the genius come up with now? Apparently Snape is pleased though. _Christian turned his attention back to his potion, but his gaze would vary every now and then. From his potion in front of him to the genius in the front of the class. 

Adrian was busy looking around the classroom, waiting the seven minutes he was supposed to for the potion to simmer. While looking he caught the eye of none other than Katie Bell. He kept the eye contact and winked. He laughed inwardly as he saw her eyes go wide and shift their gaze to the genius. She grabbed a flagon and poured some potion in it. She took it up to the front of the room and placed it on Snape's desk. On her way back she stopped at Annie's desk. She talked to her all the while shooting glances in Adrian's direction. He saw Annie's head snap up to look at Katie and then saw Katie nod. Annie grabbed a piece of parchment, scribbled something on it and gave it to Katie while talking to her. Katie made her way back to her desk but not before giving Adrian, himself, the piece of parchment. Adrian took it and opened it. 

_Adrian, _

_How much did you hear?_

_Annie_

Adrian grinned to himself before writing back his response. 

_Annie,_

_Enough to know that you and Miss Bell stare way too much at my friends and me. But you're not in vain._

_Adrian_

He floated the parchment over to Annie and she took it. After reading it she wrote back her own response. 

_Adrian,_

_Not in vain? Care to explain or elaborate? That would be nice to know about._

_Annie_

Adrian read her response and grinned. _This is going to be a lot of fun,_ he thought to himself. 

_Annie,_

_Your efforts are not in vain. I repeat. They are not in vain. Someone's looking at you too. Only they're frightened of your friends, as he should be._

_Adrian_

Annie read the note and furrowed her brow in confusion. 'What?' she mouthed to herself. She wrote back.

_Adrian,_

_Who's he? Christian?_

_Annie_

Adrian grinned once more as he read the note. _Not bad, little genius. _He quickly responded.

_Annie,_

_What gave you that idea, my dear? Why would you not ask if it was myself? It's not. I'm just un-flattered. You should be a Seer._

_Adrian_

Annie read the note and growled softly. _I'm going to kill him, _she thought. 

_Adrian,_

_Dammit! Stop messing with my head! Who is it? Tell me or I'll find a potion to destroy your reputation. Read: I'll make you ugly! You know I can, my dear._

_Annie_

Adrian laughed as he finished reading her response and thanked Merlin for a friend like Troy (he and Annie were tied for first in Potions). 

_Annie,_

_No need to use threats. Although Troy could find a counter potion. But to save you trouble, I will tell you. It is, in fact, Mr. Bletchley. Now, if you could help me with Miss Bell that would be much appreciated. _

_Adrian_

Annie scoffed and shook her head as she read what Adrian had written_. Figures, _she thought. 

_Adrian,_

_I'm sure that would be appreciated. Are we partners in crime? You help me? I help you? _

_Annie_

Adrian looked up at Annie and wasn't surprised to meet her eyes. He mouthed 'Deal' and all was agreed to. When he looked back, Christian was looking at him. 

"What was that about?" he asked Adrian.

"Nothing," Adrian replied. "Nothing at all." Inwardly Adrian was feeling too Slytherin for his own good. He was involved in a great thing. A great plan, beyond one he could ever dream up on his own. He knew why Annie was doing this, well besides the fact that she really did like Christian. He had seen Annie look at his best friend. He knew that she liked him more than she would ever admit to. She had another motive, one she would let herself be taken over by. She was ready to piss off her brother and her friends; the people that had protected her too much over her childhood and even into her teenage years. She was getting back at them, and loving every minute of it. 


	2. Deals Just To Piss You Off

A/N: Yeah, I own things not owned by JK Rowling. So, _Courage_ is totally on a major hiatus. Sorry guys. But I'm having major writer's block with that one. I had something written out but I looked over it and it sucks, so I'm racking my brain for something and it's not happening. Suggestions are much appreciated. Just review here and of course read this story. It's my 'I-like-Ravenclaws-and-think-that-Slytherins-are-mighty-cool-too' story. So read, enjoy and review. Thanks so much guys. Again, I'm really sorry about _Courage_. I'll keep trying, I promise. Here's the next chapter of _In Love And War_:

NEWT Potions ended and Annie and Katie headed toward NEWT Transfiguration together, talking in low whispers. Adrian and Christian walked in silence. Katie and Annie knew that they would be able to get more information out of Adrian during this class, for he and Annie sat next to each other. Professor McGonagall had long ago wanted to get rid of all this hostility between the houses. Don't get me wrong, she still had a lot of Gryffindor pride, it was just she hated having to stop a lesson because of sparks going across the room at other people. However there were only 3 mixed tables: Annie and Adrian, Rob and Katie, and James and Alicia. Funny how only one table was a Ravenclaw/Slytherin table as Gryffindor and Ravenclaw got along just fine. Don't ask me how McGonagall's mind works. So Annie and Katie entered the room and took their seats. They sat next to each other, but just an aisle separated them. Adrian and Christian came in behind them and sat down. Adrian sat next to Annie and Christian sat behind Adrian with an annoying Slytherin girl next to him. But unfortunately for him (if an annoying Slytherin girl isn't unfortunate enough), Amos and Kate sat behind Christian, and Roger and David didn't sit too far off from them. Christian was surrounded and couldn't do anything about it. He would never be able to sneak glances at Annie from his spot without getting caught by one of them. Class started and McGonagall was teaching them how to transfigure a rose into a rock. 

As she taught them the intricate wand waving techniques and the right pronunciation for the words, Christian couldn't help but notice that Annie and Adrian weren't paying attention at all. Well, maybe not to the lesson, but they were certainly paying attention to each other. _That git! He knows I fancy her and he has to go off and flirt with her! See if I talk to **him** later. I could kill him right now! _But what Christian didn't know was that Adrian and Annie were finalizing the terms of their deal made in Potions. All they were doing was passing notes to each other. No big deal, right? Wrong.

Christian wasn't the only one who could see what was going on with the genius and the flirt. Rob was leaning back in his chair casually and could see some shuffling around Annie's desk. He looked over and saw that she and Adrian were passing notes to each other. _What the hell? _He saw Annie read something that Adrian had written. She looked back up at him wide-eyed and he nodded. He saw her look back down at the note and then back up at the Slytherin. She blushed slightly and nodded. He watched as a grin grew on Adrian's face as Annie's attention turned back to the note. _What the hell was that about? _He made a mental note to talk to Amos at dinner and ask him what Annie was doing with Slytherins. 

But Rob didn't have to tell Amos at dinner. He had seen the whole exchange. So did Roger and David. The latter two looked at each other before looking at Amos. Amos was completely livid, and turned his attention back to the front of the room. However instead of looking back at Annie and Adrian, his attention was caught by another Slytherin. Christian. He was beyond angry. He was… what's the word… Amos couldn't put his finger on it. Jealous? Was that it? Why would he be jealous? Unless… no… he couldn't… could he? She's a Ravenclaw. He would never… Maybe he would. Amos decided he had a pretty good idea of what was making Christian mad and turned back to David and Roger to point this out. He got their attention and pointed to Christian. The boys looked at him and then back at Amos. Roger mouthed 'He likes her?'. Amos mouthed back 'I think so.' Roger and David shook their heads at the thought of that and sat fully back in their chairs, prepared to talk about this at dinner. 

Annie, being a genius herself, had noticed the looks her brother and her friends were giving each other. She knew what this meant. A council, as she liked to call it, during the next meal they were to have. In this case: dinner. She knew that they would ask her to go sit somewhere else, as they need to talk about 'guy stuff', she would roll her eyes and go sit a few seats off where they thought that she couldn't hear them. The last council they had was about when she got hurt during a Quidditch game. Amos had suggested that Roger talk to her and make her a reserve for the remainder of her time at Hogwarts. Roger refused, saying that they needed her and that he knew that. Roger told Amos that he should know that both of them couldn't deal without her. Amos, Annie and Roger were the Ravenclaw Chasers. They could read each other's minds on the pitch, a very good skill to have out on the field. Roger knew, as did Amos deep down, that if they got rid of Annie, they would lose the magic. Roger eventually convinced Amos in the end and the council dispersed. But Annie knew that in this one, all odds were against her. Usually, during a council, Rob or Roger would stick up for her, knowing that sometimes Amos got too protective of his twin sister. Amos knew that too, but couldn't help himself sometimes. That was just the way he was. He knew that, everyone knew that. 

When Annie walked over to the Slytherin table during dinner and knew that her brother and friends had stopped their council to watch her. But she wasn't alone; she had dragged Katie with her. There was no way she would be able to do it alone. Back at the Ravenclaw table, the guys watched her with horror stricken across their faces. 

"What is she doing?" Amos hissed to the other guys.

"Walking over to the Slytherin table," James suggested, still surprised more than horrified. 

"I got that," Amos responded with a glare that would have killed James right then and there. That is if glares could kill. "Why though? Why would she do that?" 

They soon saw the reason, and their horror was confirmed. Annie and Katie walked over to the Slytherin table and were greeted as if they had sat there all their lives. They were greeted warmly by all of the Slytherins there, including all of the Slytherin Quidditch players. Troy Montague and his girlfriend even moved over to give the girls spots to sit. Coincidently those spots were right next to Christian and Adrian. Annie looked over at the Ravenclaw table and right into her brother's eyes. Her eyes gave the look of defiance. He knew it; she knew it. She looked away and whispered something to Christian. Christian nodded and both got up from the table and left the Great Hall from the doors behind them. Amos was pissed to say the least. Katie stayed at the table but had watched the two leave. She turned to talk to Adrian but caught sight of Rob's face; it was the face of betrayal. She had betrayed him. If anything was going to go wrong in this big plan, it was that Adrian was never going to get Katie. Her heart already belonged to someone. That someone was the person who looked at her like she couldn't have betrayed him more. She felt guilty but needed to help Annie. She needed to help her show her friends that she wasn't a little girl anymore. She needed to help. 

As Katie's thoughts battled with each other, Rob was having thoughts of his own. It was common knowledge between the two that both liked each other. He couldn't believe that she was sitting at the Slytherin table. He knew that she had to be there on a different motive. Maybe it was to help Annie. Help Annie with what? Was she trying to make a point again? She certainly chose extreme ways to prove herself. Maybe that's what it was. He made a mental note to talk to Katie later. He just hoped that Adrian Pucey had nothing to do with it. His mind was gone from the thoughts of Annie and Christian; it was on the thoughts of Katie. He thought McGonagall a saint for putting him and Katie together in Transfiguration. He would do anything for that teacher now. Well… maybe not anything… but you get my drift. He had seen Katie play Quidditch many times. He had played against her, unwillingly of course, but that's beside the point. She was everything he looked for in a girl. She was smart, talented, pretty… no, beautiful. She was a damn good Quidditch player too. He probably would do anything to be with her, or even just to get to know her better. 

Christian had felt the same way about Annie before she dragged him out of the Great Hall. Now he had unpredictable to add to the list. He never would have expected her to come over to the Slytherin table and drag him out of the hall. He waited for her to explain herself when they got out of the hall, but she did no such thing. She started to loosen his tie and un-tuck his shirt from his pants. He stared at her with wide eyes. Yes, she was definitely unpredictable. She looked him over and messed up his hair a little bit. Finally Christian found his voice. 

"What are you doing?" he asked as she messed with his hair. 

"I'm pissing off my brother and friends," she answered, meeting his eyes with hers. 

"Thank you for letting me be a part of it," he said.

"Thank you for not objecting," she said as she loosened her tie a little. 

"Why wouldn't I help you?"

"I'm not a Slytherin," she answered simply. 

"That's true, but you are an exception," he stated. Annie smiled at him, and he couldn't help but smile along with her. 

"Adrian was right about you," Annie told him. Christian raised his eyebrows at her.

"What did he say?" he asked. Annie laughed softly.

"Don't worry. It all was good," she said. 

"I'll make a deal with you," Christian started. "If you help me with NEWT Potions then I'll help you piss off your brother and friends." Annie grinned at him.

"It's a deal." 

"Meet me in Dungeon 4 tonight."

"I will." Annie took his arm and they entered the Great Hall. 

They entered the hall to see Annie's brother and friends all looking at them. Annie couldn't look at them. Although it was her idea to get them royally mad, she still felt slightly guilty. Christian noticed this and turned to her. He put his hand on her cheek and rubbed her cheekbone with his thumb. Annie couldn't help blushing at his touch.

"Don't worry. They'll come around," he whispered to her before leaving her to wait for Katie. Katie glanced at the Ravenclaw table and caught sight of everyone's reactions. She led Annie out of the hall and down to the lake. Neither one talked until they reached the shore. Both sat under a tree and Annie sighed.

"What did they look like?" Annie asked. "I couldn't look at them."

"Amos, Rob and David were livid. Roger looked like he was going to kill Christian and James looked more surprised than anything. I think I helped with Rob though," she added, more to herself than Annie. The girls sat in silence for a couple of minutes until a thought struck Annie.

"We should probably get in there before they kill each other," she said. Katie nodded her agreement and stood up with Annie. They entered the castle and the Great Hall. As they did Annie could see Amos, Rob, Roger and David walking toward them and the Slytherin table. Christian and Adrian stood, Troy Montague and Brian Warrington right behind them. Amos looked absolutely livid; he didn't even notice Annie and Katie come in the door. Annie watched as her brother reached for his wand.

"Leave them alone!" Annie yelled at him. This made everyone stop and look at her. She walked over to the boys and placed herself between Amos and Christian. Katie looked on from the side but looked just as serious as Annie did. 

"Why?" Amos asked. 

"Because he did nothing to you or your friends," she said. Amos scoffed.

"He did something to you," Amos tried to reason.

"He didn't do anything to me," Annie said. "All he did was ask if I could help him in NEWT Potions." Christian nodded behind Annie to confirm her statement.

"Why didn't he ask Montague to help him? He's his friend," Amos pointed out. _We're stuck,_ Christian thought. But there was a reason Annie was a genius.

"Because I struck a deal with him," she said. Alright, maybe she wasn't the genius we hoped for. 

"What kind of a deal?" Amos asked, clearly upset that his sister would even speak to Slytherins.

"That's for us to know. You have no right to know what the deal is. In fact, part of it is going on right now," she stated.

"What?" 

"You're pissed off aren't you?" Annie asked.

"Yeah."

"Good. Then his part of the deal is done." 

"Why did you want to piss me off Annie?" Amos asked, genuinely sounding hurt.

"Because I'm not eleven anymore Amos. I know what you and the other guys were talking about earlier. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of all of it. This stupid rivalry that goes on, I'm sick of it. Just because someone is in a different house doesn't mean that we have to hate them. There are difficult times coming Amos. You know that as well as I do. That's why Mum and Dad aren't home nearly as much as they used to be. And you know why. This is why. This is where it all started and this is where it should end. Here. At school. This is where the fighting begins; all the rivalry. Someone hates someone else because they reside somewhere other than they do. It's sickening Amos. And it has to stop. Whether I get the ball rolling or not, I know that I'm not going to be involved in the hate. I'm not going to let the rivalry get me. You shouldn't either. It's better that you don't. We have to trust one another now. Especially now. And I know you know that," Annie said. Amos stared at her as she made her speech. He didn't know what to say. Who would? He watched silently as Annie and Katie left the hall. 

That night, Annie went down to her Potions classroom to meet Christian. As she walked there she felt a sense of foreboding. Why was she really going there? To piss off her brother? No. She already did that. What made her go down there? It was her promise to help him in Potions, she kept telling herself. But that nasty voice in the back of her mind kept telling her that that wasn't the reason. There was another reason to why she was going down to the dungeons. She wanted to. She wanted some reason to be near him and this was it. She remembered earlier that day when she had loosened his tie and messed up his hair. She remembered un-tucking his shirt and the rush she felt. Nobody had ever made her feel that way before. She was scared. He was a Slytherin. She wasn't supposed to feel that way about him. He wasn't supposed to be that _attractive_. _What's going on with me? I'm not supposed to feel this way about **him**! What's going on? _With this still going on in her mind, she continued onward to the dungeons. 

Christian sat on his desk in the Potions classroom thinking to himself. Occasionally he thought out loud, but decided against it. Annie could come into the classroom at any moment and he didn't want his thoughts overheard. _Why is she really doing this? Is she even going to bother showing up? Why do I keep thinking she's going to show? Stupid Christian! Stupid! What was that? _Christian looked up as he heard noise from outside of the classroom. _Did she really show up? I can't believe she showed up, _he thought as Annie entered the classroom. He slid off the desk and the sound of his shoes hitting the stone floor echoed off the walls of the silent dungeon. 

"Hi," he greeted her. She looked up at him and smiled a little. 

"Hi," she said back to him. Christian and Annie were stuck in silence for a little over a minute. One minute and 12 seconds to be exact. Christian was the one to break the silence.

"Pretty interesting dinner tonight," he mentioned. That was all Annie needed to start laughing quietly. 

"Yeah it was," she said eventually. "I can't believe all of that happened." 

"What you said, it was true though," Christian told her. "All of it was. I'm sick of the rivalry too. It's disturbing and it should end here. Whether we end it or not, I don't want to be a part of it anymore."

"We end it?" she asked him. Christian nodded. 

"You can't end a rivalry by yourself, someone has to help you," Christian told her. "Is it alright if I help you end all of this?"

"Of course. But how are we going to do that?" Annie asked. Christian frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. _I have an idea, but you won't like it, _he thought. _Damn._

"I don't know. Do you have any ideas?" Christian asked. _I have many ideas. Unfortunately you wouldn't like them, _Annie thought. _Damn. _

"I can't think of any," Annie said not looking at Christian. He noticed and used it to his advantage.

"Can't think of any? Or not willing to share?" he asked her. She looked at him, slightly red.

"I don't know what you are talking about," she told him. Christian grinned as he stepped closer to Annie.

"I have an idea, but I don't know if you would like it," he whispered to her. 

"What is it?" she asked. Christian looked at her intently before both closed their eyes. Each moved closer to the other, silently hoping the other wouldn't back away. A million things were going through their minds as they inched closer to each other. But unfortunately, one made Christian back away. 

"Why don't you help me with those potions?" he asked her. Annie opened her eyes and nodded. She turned away from him and sighed quietly. 

"Which ones have you been having trouble on?" Annie asked, not turning around to face him. 

"A lot of them, actually."

"Is there one in particular that you wanted to start with?" she asked. 

"Actually I wanted to start with the one we were doing today in class," Christian answered. Annie turned to look at him.

"Why that one?" she asked. 

"Isn't it the one that you found that 'breakthrough' in?" 

"Yes." 

"What was the breakthrough, Annie?" 

"Nothing important," Annie answered, before turning back around, not wanting to face Christian. She couldn't help it even if she wanted to. She hated being praised for being smart and well… a genius. She was one, and everyone knew it. But she had other qualities about her that people looked over. She was really funny but no one cared. She probably had the most beautiful eyes in Hogwarts, but no one noticed because they always found them looking at a book or narrowed in concentration. She was an outstanding Quidditch player but was overshadowed by her brother and friends. The only place she stood out was in the classroom and she hated it. 

"Why isn't it important?" Christian asked her.

"Because I'm not important. I hate being smart. I hate it so much. It's all people see when they look at me. They see some smart little girl. That's it. I do other things too. I'm on the Quidditch team and have been ever since second year. I was on the team before my brother and his stupid friends! I beat them out at the try-outs second year and they didn't even congratulate me. They were jealous. But now they get all the recognition and I get treated like I'm just another lowly Quidditch fan. Sometimes people forget I'm even _on_ the damn team! I hate it," Annie finished as she slumped into a chair at a desk: Christian's. 

"I noticed. I had to; you kept putting too many goals past me during games. I noticed you were there. I'm not the only one either. The entire Slytherin Quidditch team had it out for you. Even Marcus Flint, when he was still here that is. He hated you because you were so good. At times he even wished that you were in Slytherin," Christian told her. 

"Sometimes I wish I _was_ in Slytherin," Annie said. Christian just looked at her. He didn't know what to do. So he did the only thing that came to mind: he kissed her. 


End file.
